Speed Babes are a totally rad band from Chicago! Yes, that’s right, you heard it here…first? Well, if you’re from the Windy City and you have your finger on the pulse of the under-underground scene, then maybe you’ve seen these three dudes kicking around. That’s them there above. One of the rare photos, actually, capturing these elusive creatures in their native environment…
What might have began as a lark back in 2014 has become the Speed Babes way of life. Jesse Ewan started the project after telling a co-worker he could write and record an entire album in just 24 hours better than the one they’d just put on. Turns out the guy only needed 18 hours, an iPhone, and a working version of GarageBand to deliver his debut opus, Let’s Go Explode. The record would go on to be named by the Chicago Reader as one of the top 5 punk releases of 2015.
With the iPhone/Garageband approach lending a raw sound, more importantly, it allowed Ewan to capture the moment in a direct way. Call it do-it-yourself, cause it is, it is also an aesthetic that makes use of “what is at hand”–quite literally. Transforming the iPhone from a tracking device that feeds us a constant stream of garbage into an actual creative tool, makes the Speed Babes project punk to its core!
This past April, Speed Babes continued their running “color theme” by releasing the tape:pink LP–see also 2018’s orangetape and yellow. The effort finds Ewan joined by fellow musicians Mike Mazzola, and Dave Rentauskas. Tying together elements of psych-pop, garage rock, and post-punk, tape:pink‘s 11 tracks mostly run under the two-minute mark. Scruffy in all the right places, and packed to the basement ceiling with tasty hooks, this cassette would sound great blasting from your Buick Riviera this summer.
While you’re at it, don’t miss Speed Babes with Protovulcan and Diagonal on Wednesday, May 29th at the Emporium in Chicago.
